Table of Contents

  • BARZĪN

    Dj. Khaleghi-Motlagh

    (from Pahlavi Burzēn), the name of several figures in the Šāh-nāma.

  • BAŠĀKERD

    B. Spooner

    a roughly rectan­gular mountainous district (dehestān) east of Mīnāb and north of Jāsk. The topography and the natural conditions are similar to Makrān to the immediate east.

  • BASAWAL

    Sh. Kuwayama

    the site of a Buddhist cave temple complex in eastern Afghanistan. The caves, 150 in all, are partly hewn out in two rows and arranged in seven groups, which presumably corre­spond to the seven monastic institutions of Buddhist times.

  • BĀṢERĪ

    F. Barth

    a pastoral nomadic tribe of Fārs belonging to the Ḵamsa confederacy. The nomads keep sheep, intermingled with 10-20 percent goats, and use donkeys for transport.

  • BĀŠGĀH-E AFSARĀN

    M. Ṣāneʿī

    (Officers’ Club), an impressive building in Tehran, built in 1939.

  • BĀŠGĀH-E ARĀMENA

    ʿA.-A. Saʿīdī Sīrjānī

    (the Armenian Club), a non-profit, non-political social club, founded 1 January 1918 by Armenians in Tehran.

  • BĀŠGĀH-E MEHRAGĀN

    Ḥ. Maḥmūdī

    (Mehragān Club), an organization of the Iran Teachers Association open to teachers, students, and other in­tellectuals in Tehran and eventually in the provinces, 1952-62.

  • BASIL

    Hušang Aʿlam

    Ocimum L. ssp. (fam. Labiatae), now commonly called rayḥān in Persian, an aromatic plant. Ocimum basilicum L., sweet basil or basil royal, is named šāh-esparam “the royal herb.”

  • BASILIUS OF CAESAREA

    J. P. Asmussen

    or Basilius the Great (ca. A.D. 330-79), bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia from 370, after Eusebius, who wrote regarding the Magi.

  • BAŠKARDI

    P. O. Skjærvø

    (Bašākerdī), collective designation for numerous dialects spoken in southeastern Iran from Bandar-e ʿAbbās eastward, forming a transition from the dialects spoken in Fārs and Lārestān to Baluchi.